My wife and daughter decided to have a girls' day out a few weeks ago, so my son and I decided that we would have a guys' day. We stopped by a local restaurant that sells burgers, hot dogs and chicken wings, and we decided to get a couple of orders of wings and fries to go.
When we got home, we realized that we could have ordered one meal and had more than enough to eat. There was so much food that we each had some left over for days, and that is when I really became aware that food portion sizes are getting bigger and bigger.
I keep reading about the obesity epidemic in the United States, and it is no wonder that Americans have the weight problems they do. If the food portion sizes are so much larger than they should be in a restaurant like the one my son and I went to, I would imagine that they are bigger than they need to be throughout the country.
I guess the main question I have is why this happening throughout the country. Are people just demanding more food? Do restaurants feel that they have to provide massive food portion sizes in order to keep up with the competition? Are restaurant owners simply unaware that the portion sizes have become so big?
I spoke to the manager at the restaurant my son and I visited and asked him about the portion sizes. He said he had never had any complaints, and on the contrary, people were happy to receive so much food for the price. I assured him that it was a very good deal, but asked him if he was concerned about the fact that so many Americans are considered overweight or obese.
He told me that he was definitely concerned about the issue, but said that it was not only his restaurant that served these massive food portion sizes, and that if he started lowering his portions, he would likely lose business. From an economic perspective, he does have a point, but that is not helping a serious problem in this country.
I decided to go to a pizza place, and found the same problem. The prices for the food were excellent, but the slices of pizza were so large that one was enough for a meal, and people were buying three or four at a time, and most of the people in the restaurant were overweight.
Perhaps the solution is just a matter of realizing that food portion sizes are larger and making it a point to order less when we go out to eat, but whatever the reason, portion sizes are getting bigger and bigger. If we are ever going to address the obesity epidemic in this country, especially the childhood obesity problem, this is one of the areas we have to address.